And otto lan



N6; 752,015. PATENTBD FEB. 9, 1904. G. ZI'MMERIMANN & 0. Lamas.

.SWITOH.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 5, 1903.

no MODEL.

2 SHEETS-SHEET. 1.

' PATENTED PEB.9,1904. e. ZIMMERMANN-Kz-O. LANGOS.

SWITCH. AnmoA'rIon FILED 0015, 1903.

2 SHBETSSEBET 2.

HO-MODEL.

Patented February 9, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE ZIMMERMANN, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, AND OTTO LAN- GOS, OFALLIANCE, OHIO, ASSIGNORS OF ONE-THIRD TO A. L. GVAT- SOVSKY, 'OFALLEGHENY, PENNSYLVANIA.

SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 752,015, dated February9, 1904.

Application filed October 5, 1903.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE ZIMMERMANN, residing at Pittsburg, in thecounty of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, and OTTO Lnneos, residingat Alliance, in the county of Stark and State of Ohio, both subjects ofthe Emperor of Austria-Hungary, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Switches, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to certain new and usetul improvements inswitches, and the object of the invention is to provide a switch capableof being actuated by means of a shoe suspended from a car or engine whensaid car or engine is moving in one direction on the track, capable ofbeing manually operated from the side of the track, and also capable ofbeing automatically operated by a car or engine moving in the oppositedirection to that of the car or engine which actuates the switch bymeans of the shoe suspended from said car or engine. Y

Briefly described, the invention embodies ditches or subways locatedunderneath the track, one underneath the switch tongue or tongues, andone at each side thereof, these ditches or subways being connectedtogether by a conduit, through which extend flexible connectionsattached to the actuating means at the switch and to that at each sideof said switch. The actuating means at one side of the switch embodiespresser strips or bars located outside the rails of the track andadapted to be engaged by a suitable device carried by the car or engine,and which when depressed actuate means connected up by said flexibleconnections to the switch tongue or tongues to move the latter into thedesired position. The actuating means at the other side of the switchalso embodies presser strips or bars located on the inner side of therails and connected up to the switch tongue or tongues, and so arrangedthat when in one position the wheels of the car or engine engage thesame to depress them and actuate the switch tongue Serial No. 175,772.(No model.)

or tongues, and when in another position permit the wheels of theengine, car, or train to pass over same without actuating the mechanism.Manual means is also provided whereby the switch tongue or tongues, asthe case may be, may be operated by hand.

All of the above construction will be hereinafter more specificallydescribed and then particularly pointed out in the appended claims, andin describing the invention in detail reference will be had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, and whereinlike numerals of reference wil be employed for indicating like partsthroughout the different views of the drawings, in which Figure 1 is atop plan view of our improved switch, showing the switch-tongues inposition to pass the engine or train onto the main track.

Fig. 2- is a transverse vertical sectional view taken on the line 2 2 ofFig.1. Fig. 3 is alongitudinal sectional view taken on line 3 3 ofFig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail side elevation of a form of actuatingmechanism that may be employed on the car or engine, showing its normalposition in full lines and operative position in dotted lines.

Describing the invention in detail, 1 2 indicate the main rails of thetrack and 3 a the rails of the side track and 5 the movable switchtongues or rails. These switch rails or tongues may be moved manuallyfrom the side of the track, adjacent the switch, and to accomplish thiswe connect the switch rails or tongues by a bar 6, having at orapproximately the center of its length a slotted lug 7, which receives apin 8, mounted eccentrically in the disk 9, pivoted in the bed of thetrack. The shaft 10, on which the disk 9 is mounted, carries on itslower end beneaththe track a cross-head 1 1, to which the ends ofactuating flexible connections leading to the actuating mechanism ateach side of the switch are attached. The disk 9 is actuated so as tomove the switch-tongues 5, by means of rods or links 12, having theirone end pivoted to the disk 9 and their other ends pivoted to 0ppositeends of a cross-head 14, carried on a shaft 15, mounted in aswitch-stand 16 at the side of the track.

On the shaft is mounted a bevel-pinion 17, to be engaged by abevel-pinion 18, carried on a shaft 19 and having integral therewith onemember of a clutch, the other member of which is carried by the lever20, mounted on said shaft 19. Thus when the lever is shifted on itsshaft so as to engage the clutch members the movement of the lever inone direction or the other causes bevel-pinion 18 to actuatebevel-pinion 17, and through medium of rods or links 12 actuate disk 9and move the switch-tongues into the desired position, the links or rods12 in this actuation moving one in one direction and the other in the'op posite direction. Ordinarily we employ a lamp at the switch-stand,so that theactuation of the switch turns the lamp to give the desiredsignal, this being, however, a principle well known and generally used,and hence we have not shown the same herein.

In front of the switch-tongues we provide a ditch or subway 21, whichextends across the track transversely and is covered by a metalliccover-plate 22. Generally in practice we wall this ditch or subway withmasonry or brickwork, as seen in Figs. 2 and 3. A similar walled-inditch or subway 23 is provided transversely of the track underneath theswitch-tongues and switch-stand heretofore described, and also a similarwalled-in ditch or subway 24 is provided at the rear of the switch,extending underneath the one of the rails of the main track, and underthe one rail of the side track, as outlined by dotted lines in Fig. 1.Both of these ditches or subways are covered over-by a metallie plate,as shown and described for ditch or subway 21. A conduit 26 connectsditch or subway 21 with ditch or subway 23, and the latter is alsoconnected to the ditch or subway 24 by conduit 27. These conduits 26 27may be open orcovered, as may be desired.

The mechanism contained in the walled-in ditches 21 24 is identical andis shown in detail in Figs. 2 and 3. It is also operated in the samemanner, but in one instance is actuated by mechanism suspend ed from thecar or engine and in the other instance is actuated by the wheels of thecar or engine. This mechanism embodies standards 28, suitably mounted inthe ditches and in which is mounted a shaft 29. Sleeves 3O 31 arerotatably mounted on this shaft 29 and carry, respectively, sheaves 3233 near one end and near their outer ends have pinions 34 35 to beengaged by rack-bars 36 37, respectively. These rack-bars operate inguides 39, mounted on the base or bottom of the ditch and extendingthrough the metallic cover-plate 22. Threaded into the lower ends of therack-bars 36 37, so as to be adjustable, are the stems 40 of clevises41, which are pivotally attached to opposite ends of the beam 42,mounted centrally on a bearing or pillow block 43, supported on thebottom of the ditch. Attached to the side wall of the ditch is a pair ofbrackets 44, one pair near each end of the ditch, and in these pairs ofbrackets are journaled shafts 45, carrying sheaves 46. Flexibleconnections 47 48, such as cables, have their one end attached,respectively, to the sheaves 32 33 and pass around the sheaves 46,sheaves or pulleys 49 5O 51 52, located in the conduit 26, and aroundsheaves or pulleys 53 54, located in the conduit or ditch 23, with theiropposite ends attached to opposite ends of the crosshead 11. For themechanism in ditch 24 (which, as stated, is the same as that justdescribed) the flexible connections have been indicated byreference-numerals 55 56, these flexible connections passing aroundsheaves or pulleys in the conduit 27, similarly disposed to those inconduit 26, and the same reference-numerals have been applied thereto,the one end of said connections being attached to opposite ends of thecross-head 11, as clescribed for connections 47 48.

The rack-bars 36 37 in ditch 21 extend up through the cover-plate 22outside the rails 1 and 2 of the main track and are connected to presserstrips or bars 57 58, respectively. These strips or bars are bowed, asseen in Fig. 3, so that the point where the rack-bars connect therewithmay be elevated above the rails, the ends of the strips extending downonto the base-flanges of the rails and one end thereof being pivoted, asat 89, either to the rail base-flange or to the cross-tie, as may bedesired. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the switch is closed, so as topermit atrain passing from left to right to continue on the main track,and should it be desired to open the switch, so as to pass the engine ortrain onto the side track the operator drops the shoe carried by theengine or car into engagement with presser strip or bar 58 to depressthe same, causing flexible connection 48 to actuate cross-head 11 andoperate disk 9, so as to shift the switchtongues through medium of bar 6into the opposite position. As flexible connection 48 is wound on itssheave 33 flexible connection 47 is unwound from its sheave 32, rack-bar37 in descending causing rack-bar 36 to be elevated, due to theconnection at opposite ends of the beam 42. The clevises aremadeadjustable between the ends of the beam and the rackbars 36 37,respectively, so that the throw imparted to the rack-bars may be variedas may be desired.

A practical form of device for actuating the presser-bars 57 58 is shownin Fig. 4 and em- .bodies a pivoted lever 60, adapted to be attached atany desired point on the engine or car, a suitable rack 61 beingprovided for holding the lever in each of its two positions. This leveris connected to the operating-bar 62 by means of link 63, 'pivoted tothe lever and to toggle-links 64: 65, pivoted, respectively, to bracket66 and to the bar 62. The bar 62 is provided in its lower end with asuitable roller or shoe 6'? for engagement with the presser strips orbars.

As lever 60 is moved from position shown in full lines to that shown indotted lines bar 62 will be forced down into position shown in dottedlines, so as to engage the shoe or roller with presser-strip 57 or 58,as the case may be, one of these devices being provided at each side ofthe car or engine.

In case of a train moving toward the rear ofthe switch, or, in otherwords, from right to left, as seen in Fig. 1, we aim to automaticallyoperate the switch tongue or tongues, and to this end we provide apresser strip or bar 68, similar in construction to bars 57 58 andconnected to rack-bar 36 in ditch 24. This rackbar in this instanceprojects up through the cover-plate 2-2 inside of the rail 2, so thatthe presser bar or strip 68 is located inside said rail 2. The rack-bar37 in ditch 2e projects up through cover-plate 22 inside of rail 3 ofthe side track and has a presser strip or bar 69 attached thereto. Incase of a train passing from right to left on the main track, as seen inFig. 1, and the switch is in the position shown in this view, thenpresser strip or bar 68 will be in its lower position and the wheels ofthe train will pass over same without actuating the switch; but in eventof a train passing in the same direction and the switch being open thenpresser strip or bar 68 will be elevated, whereby it will be engaged bythe wheels of the train and depressed, and

this depression forces down the rack 36 attached thereto andautomatically, through the connections aforedescribed, closes switch, soas to permit train to pass over same and continue on the main track.Likewise in event of a train passing off the side track moving towardthe switch and the switch-tongues set so as to conduct the trainproperly onto the main track the presser strip or bar 69 will in thisevent be in its lower position, so as not to be engaged and actuated bythe wheels of the train; but in event of the switch being in the wrongposition to pass the train onto the main track then the presser strip orbarwill be in its elevated position and will be engaged by the wheels ofthe train and depressed, so as to actuate the switch and move thetongues thereof to the proper position to pass the train onto the maintrack. \Vith the switch open to the side track, so as to pass a trainmoving from left to right on the main track onto said side track, thenpresser strip or bar 69 will be in its depressed or lowered position, soas not to be engaged by the wheels of the train.

While we have herein shown and described our invention as it ispracticed by us, yet it will be observed that various changes may bemade in the details of construction without departing from the generalspirit of our invention.

Having fully described our'invention, what we claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a switch, the combination with the piv- I 2. In a switch, thecombination with the pivoted switch-tongue, of means for actuating saidswitch-tongue manually, separate means located on one side of the railfor actuating said switch-t0ngue from the engine or car, and furtherseparate means located on the other side of the switch and opposite sideof the rail for actuating the switch-tongue by the passing of an engineor car over said lastnamed means, substantially as described.

3. In combination with a pivoted switchtongue, an actuating mechanismconnected thereto and adapted to be operated by hand, mechanism locatedin the bed of the track in advance of the switch and on one side of therail, and flexible connections between the lastnamed mechanism and thefirst-named mechanism, means carried by the car or engine for actuatingthe last-nam ed mechanism tooperate the switch-tongue, and automaticmechanism located in the bed of the track at the opposite side of theswitch and other side of the rail to the second-named mechanism andadapted to be actuated by the passing thereover of the wheel of a trainor engine, and flexible connections between said last-named mechanismand-the first-named mechanism, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we afliX our signatures in the presence of twowitnesses.

GEORGE ZIMMERMANN. OTTO LANGOS. Witnesses for Zimmermann:

H. C. EVERT, A. M. VVILSON. Witnesses for Langos:

WILLIAM L. HART, H. C. KonHLnR.

